PPS VALIDATION, ECTS, QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES

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PPS VALIDATION, ECTS, QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY ENTERPRISE COOPERATION
NETWORK Socrates Erasmus Programme Project No
Ref. 134546 - LLP -1-2007-1- RO - ERASMUS - ENW

• Prof. Simona Lache
• Transilvania University of Brasov

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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Topics

• QA approach enterprise and university
• QA concepts and principles
• Validation criteria for PPS on the enterprises
• Validation of PPS in the university
• QA procedures

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA approach enterprise and university

• QA implementation in enterprises unique standard
  related to quality management
• QA implementation in universities
• Different systems, depending on
• the focus of the quality assessment
  institutional / study programmes
• the way it is done ones / periodically
• who does it external / internal evaluation or
  both.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA concepts and principles

• Present trend in Europe centre of gravity should
  be gradually moved from quality control and
  quality assessment to quality enhancement
• Main principles
• Peer review process
• Evidence based process
• The centre of the process is the student and
  his/her training outcomes, according to the
  qualification framework and the attended study
  programme.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA concepts and principles

• Standards for practical placement are
  predetermined and explicit levels of achievement
  that must be reached for a student within the
  practical placement training to be granted a
  qualification.
• Quality of practical placement is a way of
  describing the effectiveness of everything that
  is done or provided (the training
  opportunities) to ensure that the students have
  the best possible opportunity to meet the stated
  outcomes of their study programmes and the
  academic standards of the awards they are seeking
  from the practical training point of view.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA concepts and principles

• QA - bottom-up process
• The assessment is performed by quality assurance
  teams consisting of
• Academic staff
• External evaluators may be a person from a
  company - different to the one in which the
  practical placement took place but that has
  cooperation agreement with the university, as
  well)
• Students may be included in the team.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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Validation criteria for PPS on the enterprises

• Integration within the curriculum the placement
  content is compatible with the study programme.
  It ensures the skills and competences foreseen in
  the syllabus of practical placement.
• E.g.
• To apply the knowledge acquired in the University
• To acquire new skills relevant to the students
  area of study
• To confront the student with situations and
  problems of a professional nature environment
• To analyze the conditions of the work environment
• To analyze their own experience of immersion into
  the work environment
• Tutorship the enterprise assigns a person
  responsible for the student(s) practical
  placement, to assist the student(s) during the
  whole process.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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Validation criteria for PPS on the enterprises

• Evaluation the enterprise evaluates the student
  activity and validates the practical stage by
  issuing a certificate.
• Financial reward the host organization may
  reward the student in a financial form, which may
  represent a plus of responsibility of both sides
  regarding the activity carried on during the
  practical placement.
• Contract administrative rules and duties of each
  partner are defined in a tripartite placement
  agreement.
• Confidentiality rules of the company are
  respected.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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Validation of PPS in the university

• Validation of PPS by the enterprise
• a certificate is delivered, based on the student
  activity report and the oral presentation of the
  work performed during the placement.
• Validation of PPS by the university
• it is done after the student evaluation by a
  board of academics, that may involve the mentor
  and the tutor (or another representative of the
  enterprise).
• The practical activity is awarded with ECTS
  credits according to the curriculum of the
  study programme, only if it is carried on in an
  enterprise acknowledged by the university (from
  the QA point of view).

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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Validation of PPS in the university

• The student evaluation has to rely on qualified
  experts, taking into account at least some
  minimal methodological rules
• by defining a so-called system of reference
  (making explicit the elements checked in the
  evaluation)
• by defining criteria giving credibility to the
  system of reference
• by measuring the value of criteria
• by drawing up a synthesis reporting
  understandable conclusions.
• Evaluation has a strong link with quality policy
  all efforts which are made for evaluation may be
  considered as elements of a quality policy, which
  is quite often built around an evaluation
  procedure.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA procedure

• Quality issues to be addressed
• University institutional context
• Enterprise context
• Training staff tutor in E/ mentor in U
• Tutoring
• Mentoring
• Training process legal framework, duration,
  content, curriculum, validation through ECTS by
  the university
• Students (Student Learning outcomes)
• Training facilities

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA procedure

• Instruments for QA
• feedback from students related to the training
  process, training staff (tutor/ mentor)
• feedback from enterprise the university
  curriculum for practical placement satisfy their
  needs, the results for student evaluation (may be
  consultative for the professor in allocating the
  credits and marks)
• feedback from graduates to which extent the PPS
  performed during university studies helped in
  getting a better job.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QA procedure

• The Regional/ Local Reference Centre for
  practical placement is responsible for the
  quality assurance process.
• The reviewed enterprise with positive result is
  added to a database available for the network
  of Reference Centres in Europe.
• The assessment is performed by quality assurance
  teams consisting of academic staff from different
  departments (but from the same domain or a close
  one) external evaluators and/or students may be
  included in the team. The external evaluator may
  be a person from another enterprise (that has
  cooperation agreement with the university and has
  passed the quality assessment process).
• The quality assurance process for practical
  placement of students obeys the general
  principles peer review process evidence based
  process the centre of the process is the student
  and its training outcomes, according to the
  qualification framework and the attended study
  programme.
• The practical activity of students in Europe is
  developed under the provisions of the Quality
  Commitment document.

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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QUALITY COMMITMENT

• For practical placement of students in Europe
• replicates the principles of the European Quality
  Charter for Mobility,
• Commitment statement of
• The sending higher education institution
• The sending institution and host organisation
  jointly
• The host organisation
• The student

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam
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Discussions

• Thank you!
• slache_at_unitbv.ro

EUE-Net Meeting, 20-21 October 2008, Amsterdam